Treasury Secretary Bessent to Attend Supreme Court Tariff Argument
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he will attend the Supreme Court's Nov. 5 oral argument on whether President Donald Trump can use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs. Speaking on Fox News Nov. 3, Bessent said he's going to "hopefully" sit in the "front row, and have a ring-side seat" to the argument (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
The Supreme Court will hold the oral argument on whether IEEPA can be used for tariffs and, if so, whether Trump's reciprocal tariffs and tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico to combat fentanyl trafficking are a valid exercise of that authority. While Trump himself flirted with the idea of attending the argument, he ultimately said he wouldn't go because he didn't want to call attention to himself (see 2511030047).
Asked whether his presence would "intimidate" the justices, Bessent said he will be there to "emphasize that this is an economic emergency." Bessent added that "national security is economic security" and "economic security is national security."
Bessent also said that if Trump didn't have IEEPA "back in the spring" when the initial tariffs were imposed on China to combat fentanyl trafficking, he wouldn't have been able to get the Chinese to agree last week "to start working to bring down the precursors to fentanyl." Bessent asked: "If fentanyl is not a national emergency, what is?"
The administration filed its final reply brief in the cases on Oct. 30, addressing the many statutory and constitutional issues at the fore with the president's use of IEEPA (see 2510310019). The government's side will be argued by Solicitor General D. John Sauer, while the challengers to the tariffs will be represented by Neal Katyal, partner at Milbank, and Benjamin Gutman, solicitor general for the state of Oregon.